Upholstery spring assembly



Jam. 11, 1938. w. w. GLEASON 2,105,115

UPHOLSTERY SPRING ASSEMBLY Filed July 20, 1-936 Patented Jan. 11, 1938 PATENT OFFICE UPHOLSTERY SPRING ASSEMBLY William W. Gleason, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Nachman Spring-Filled Corporation, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application July 20, 1936, Serial No. 91,462

r 1 Claim.

manufacture of seat cushions of all typesand for' mattresses, wherein the corner portions of the structure are re-inforced for the purposes of rendering the whole unit less liable to buckle under the lateral pressures exerted upon the same in forcing them into place in the cover structures therefor after said structures ,have been surrounded by suitable padding material of a fullness which necessitates crowding of the same and said padding into said cover structures,

Another essential object of the invention is to provide a reinforced structure of the type specified which will resist distortionand breakage iniuse, such distortion and breakage in use being common to structures of this type as ordinarily manufactured.

Another object of the invention is to provide a reinforced structure of the type specified which can be rolled up or folded and at the same time compressed to occupy minimum space in shipping.

Another importantobject of the invention is to provide a spring assembly of the type specified, wherein the chance of breakage of highly resilient border;wires atthe corners of the assembly and consequent danger of injury to occupants and users of seat cushions and mattresses, is elimi- Suitable embodiments of the invention are 11- lustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a spring assembly constructed in accordance with the 35 invention.

Figs. 2 and 3 are fragmentary detail sectional views of the same taken on the lines 2-2 and 33, respectively of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view show- 4,, ing a corner portion of another form of embodiment of the invention.

The upholstery springs I shown are coupled with each other in any suitable manner as, for example in accordance with the teachings of the 45 Re-Issue Patent No. 19,347 to Oliver Hetherington,

as illustrated inthe accompanying drawing.

Preferably, the outermost portions of the marginal springs are secured by means of suitable ties of the said Hetherington patent type, or any other 50 suitable type, to border wires 2 composed of several strands of piano wire or other wire of a highly resilient nature.

In practice it has been found difficult to bow said wires around the outermost portions of the 55 corner springs l and secure said bowed or arcuate portionsto the terminal coils of said cornersprings satisfactorily-to prevent relative movement of the latter and said border wires which causes noise. The high degree of, resiliency of said wires also causes them to break at the corners. of the struc- 5 ture and project through the cover fabrics. Such breakages have caused injuries tooccupants of seat cushions and, in many instances, the breakages have occurred in the handling and shipment of the spring assemblies. 10

1 It is also well known that all metal spring assemblies have a tendency to buckle and become distorted in forcing them, when covered with padding, into cushion and mattress covers and .that in the use and handling of mattresses and 15 cushions equipped with such spring assemblies,

the corner portions sufier most'from breakage and distortion.

completion of the spring assembly, present loose .ends that soon project through the cover fabrics.

Such wires are advantageous, however, because of their high degree of resiliency whereby, when secured to the springs I, they exert a constant tension on the whole structure which tends to expand the same laterally and longitudinally to increase the aforesaid resistance to buckling and aid in self-restoration of the structure after such buckling has occurred. This effect is produced particularly along the rows of marginal springs and is very desirable.

Hence, a suitable means for retaining the advantages incident to the bowing of the border wires 2 about the corners of the spring assembly 40 while eliminating the dangers incident to the breakages or escapes from the ties of these corner portions of saidwires has been sought for some time.

The present invention, as embodied in the structures illustrated herein, remedies the foregoing difilculties and disadvantages by omitting the corner portions of the wires 2 which, as shown in Fig. 1, terminate at points spaced from the corner springs 3 and just beyond the outermost portions of the next adjacent springs, said wires being secured by the ties shown or others commonly used in the art to all springs except the corner springs 3 and the next adjacent marginal springs.

Strips 4 of sheet metal of light gauge and which are folded to U-shape in cross section are bent between their ends to the curvature coinciding with that of the terminal coils of the corner springs and receive the outermost portions of the latter while the arms of said strips receive the terminal end portions of the border wires 2 and the adjacent portions of the springs l lying next to the said springs 3 and to which the wires 2 are practically tangential. The flanges of the said channeled strip 4 are contracted to firmly engage the corner springs '3 and the adjacent springs l, the mouth portions of the strips 4 being closed or practically closed at the portions 5 and 8, respectively, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, to clamp the terminal end portions of the wires 2 against movement relatively to the springs l and said strips 4. In effecting such closure by means such as a punch-press equipped with the requisite dies, the several wires embraced by said strips 4 may be slightly fiattened but such flattening is not necessary.

The engagement of the strips 4 with the several wires 2 and springs l and 3 is such as to obviate movement of said strip and said wires 2 relatively to each other longitudinally of said wires. Said strips 4 are also anchored to the springs l and 3 and cooperate with the wires to prevent the marginal springs l and said springs 3 from being crowded toward each other in directions parallel with said wires 2 and thus render the marginal portion of the spring assembly extremely resistant to the lateral pressures without reducing the resiliency of the whole structure responsively toloads on the springs.

The characteristics imparted to the marginal portions of the structure necessarily affects all of the remaining springs l to render the whole structure far more resistant to buckling than it would be otherwise.

Substantially the same result as is obtained by the'structure of Figs. 1, 2 and 3 may be obtained by the structure of Fig. 4 wherein the corner reinforcing member 1 composed of re- Said members I are contracted similarly to the strips 4 to anchor the same to the springs l and 3 and to engage border wire members 8 which, in this instance, are made up of elongated terminal portions of the vertical marginal zig-zag wire springs 9, said terminal end portions 8 of each spring 9 being looped about a next succeeding portion 8 of the adjacent spring 9 by means of loops ID.

The said members I will flex to enable spring assemblies equipped therewith to be rolled up into small diameter rolls for cylindrical baling purposes and will confine several ends of wire portions 8 against projecting appreciably outwardly from points of breakage so that such projecting ends may not penetrate the cover fabrics.

The structure of Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive constitutes the preferred form of embodiment of the invention, it being obvious that the springs 9 may be incorporated into said structure if desired.

I claim as my invention:

A spring assembly for upholstery comprising a group of interconnected springs disposed in relative positions to form a rectangular structure, channeled L-shaped sheet metal corner members, each secured to and embracing the outermost portion of the terminal coil of a corner spring and the outermost portions of the terminal coils of the two marginal springs next adjacent the respective corner springs, resilient wires projecting at their ends into the arms of said corner members and in tangential relation to the terminal coils of the last-named marginal springs and secured to the latter by said corner members,

said border wires being secured to the outermost portions of the terminal coils of the remaining marginal springs and rendering yielding the edge portions of the assembly disposed between the portions embraced by said corner members by flexing of said last-named portions of said border wires and said corner members being substantially inflexible and causing load disposed upon any one or several springs embraced thereby to be transmitted to all of the said springs i to which said members are secured.

WILLIAM W. GLEASON. 

